The US Semiconductor Industry Association’s book-to-bill ratio for the running three months to January climbed to 1.11 from the figure for the three months to December of 1.09, which has been revised upwards from the 1.08 reported this time last month; this compares with 0.99 in November and 0.96 in October. The rise in the […]

The US Semiconductor Industry Association’s book-to-bill ratio for the running three months to January climbed to 1.11 from the figure for the three months to December of 1.09, which has been revised upwards from the 1.08 reported this time last month; this compares with 0.99 in November and 0.96 in October. The rise in the ratio – of orders taken to parts shipped – masks the fact that both were down in January, but while average orders for the three months to January fell by less than 1% to $780.8m, shipments during January slumped 17.8% to $645.9m and average shipments for the three months to January were down 3% to $701.7m. Reason for the big fall in January shipments is that it was a four-week month where December covered five weeks.